Metaphysics of Motherhood

Plato’s Phaedo affords what I consider one of the most important philosophical validations that pertains to motherhood. Motherhood is about love: a selfless self-emptying for another, not because the child has earned or deserved it, but simply by the very fact of being the mother’s child. By virtue of existing as her child, she is loved. One …READ MORE

Aristotle was concerned with human happiness. Aristotle’s word for “happiness” is eudaimonia, which is better translated “flourishing.” An acorn that falls into the ground, sprouts, grows deep roots and tall branches has eudaimonia. As an acorn it had potential, and as it grows into a tall oak tree, that potential becomes actualized. The little acorn …READ MORE

One of the most important passages in the whole corpus of western philosophy was written by Plato who describes the final hours of the life of Socrates, Plato’s mentor and friend. Socrates had been condemned to death by Athens for “corrupting the youth,” a sentence his followers believe is false, and hence his death is, …READ MORE

John Paul II develops this illumination of motherhood through the fatherhood of God: “When in union with the apostle, we bow our knees before the Father from whom all fatherhood and motherhood is named (cf. Eph 3:14-15), we come to realize that parenthood is the event whereby the family. . . is brought about ‘in …READ MORE

In his Letter to Families, John Paul II charts new theological territory, exploring ways that motherhood is made in the image of God and reflects God’s creative power. His letter opens with a reference to God’s creation of the world: “The universe, immense and diverse as it is, the world of all living beings, is …READ MORE

I have taught Anaxagoras since my first class as a grad student to the present.  Whenever I teach Plato’s Phaedo and give Socrates’ account of his conversion from “natural philosophy” to the development of his own “makeshift” theory of causation (read “Plato’s Forms”) I mention Anaxagoras. Anaxagoras and his theory of Mind were tantalizing to the …READ MORE